Saturday, October 22, 2011

I confess, I am a hoarder. I know, I really shouldn't be after 16ish moves in 12 years and a season of homelessness, but I am. This week I threw out two things that I have held on to for probably way too long - or at least Glenn thinks so ;)

The first thing was my pair of EMS flip flops. I got them off the clearance rack *several* years ago at EMS. They had been returned by someone I am guessing and they only cost about $2 but they were nice flip flops I have never found their equal and therefore I have kept them for a long time even though I started feeling rocks through them and the cover of the top has worn off. (I know that there was a melted place on the front of them that I got from the heater at Grandma Hansen's house if that is any indication of how old they are.) I can't remember which October was the first October that they were supposed to be thrown away (October 15 is when we put our summer stuff up until 4/15 when we get them out again) but this October they finally made it to the trash because the part between the toes on one side finally snapped when I was at flute rehearsal a few weeks back. I almost cried. I probably would have if I had been home, not out in public. So long my favorite flip flops ever. May I someday find your equal.

The second thing was my pillow. I have had my pillow for a long time. I got it from the reject pillow pile that they were getting rid of from the cabins. We housekeepers were allowed to take a pillow from the pile back when I was an SIC at WOL FCG. I actually squabbled with one of my housekeeper girls over it. (A fact I am embarrassed about now...) It was a great pillow. Again, I have never been able to find it's equal and so I've just kept using it. It started it's decline (really, Sonja? Started??) last summer when we boiled all of our pillows to get rid of a pest. Boiling water does not do nice things for just about any piece of material that you put in it and my pillow was no exception. I have not been sleeping well for a while and finally decided this week that my pillow had to go. (It may have been something about a fact that I read in some magazine lately about old pillows containing all kinds of mites and dead skin cells. It said something about 1/4 of a pillow's weight may be made up of them - GROSS! Glenn joked that my pillow was probably closer to 90%). Anyway, so long pillow. You served me well, long past the first time you were tossed aside.

I close this confession with a poem that I wrote about my flip flops last November when we were making poems for school:

My EMS Flip Flops

Worn, like they've been well loved
Comfy, as though made for me
Silent, as they traverse the earth
Fresh like earth and air.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

I paid cash at Wegmans tonight. That does not make me feel comfortable. I like swiping my Wegmans card then swiping my debit card and knowing that the money is there to pay out of our checking account. That would still have been true today but I decided (after seeing that we only had $88 left in our food budget for the month of October when I put in my receipts last weekend) that I needed to go cash envelope on our food budget. (Food budget is one aspect of our budget that can change and that I can control in our budget and I have been over spending the last several months which does not do well for our budget.) I rounded up $88 in cash and stuck it in an envelope. Tonight it took a lot of will power but I did it. I reached for the cash instead of the card. My milk dates are until 11/1 so we may make it until the end of the month with that $88 (though I doubt the 4 gallons I bought will last us that long!). I am so thankful that God abundantly provides for us and that He is going to stretch that $88 because I am trusting Him to. I long to be obedient in this area, to be a good steward of what He has entrusted to us. We long to live within our means now, when our means are very limited, so that we can live below our means when we start getting a pay check in a couple of years and begin to give more and pay off our debt. It's a faith and contentment issue that He's working on in me and He is going to prove Himself faithful!

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Week 3 of school didn't go exactly as planned but it was a good week. My camera pretty much stayed in it's home this week so my week in pics doesn't have as many pics as some other weeks. The kickball pic was one that my friend posted online and most of the others are from my phone so the quality isn't the greatest.

On Tuesday we played kickball with some friends.

On Tuesday night we lended our kids to some friends so that Glenn and I could go on a much needed date. We went to Outback because we had a coupon for a free steak then wandered around Ollies and talked. On Wednesday morning when I went to pick up the kids it was decided that I would stay and watch the 8 kids because none of their baby sitters were answering the phone and the mom had to go and be there for a baby to be born (she's a doula). It was a fun day off from school with kids ages 4,5,6,7,8,9,10, and 11. There was a lot of Lego playing, some Wii playing and

I introduced them to my favorite fall game: Catch the Leaf

And they played with the tree swing

On Thursday after playing a bit of catch up on schoolwork that we'd missed the day before we headed to Waterloo for our monthly visit. We stopped in to see Phoebe and Jonah first before heading over to visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Amy and Kyle. We then got to go to part of Ehren's volleyball game which was a lot of fun. We got to see Aunt Ruth, Uncle Jerry and Ali while we were there.

Hannah sharing her school notebook with Grandma

On Friday Glenn took his Internal Medicine Shelf in the morning while we did school work then we headed down to Montour Falls for Glenn to meet the doctor that he will probably be working with for RMED (Rural Medical Education Program). Glenn got to see a few patients with the doctor while the kids and I checked out the local library (a first stop for all homeschooling families) and the Shequaga Falls which are at the head of "the T" downtown. They are really pretty and only about 10 feet shorter than Niagara Falls. After the work day was over we were invited over for dinner at their home. They ordered pizza and we got the chance to meet his wife, 5 of their 7 kids, and their 3 dogs. Caleb got to go out and shoot guns with their 15 year old son and the girls enjoyed playing with their 10 year old daughter and her new puppy. After dinner Glenn got to go and observe the circumcision of a newborn at the hospital. We had an enjoyable evening and ended up sitting around and talking until after 10 when we headed back for the almost 2 hour drive to our beds.

The kids at Shequaga Falls in Montour Falls, NY

I'm thankful for the flexibility that homeschooling affords (like the chance to visit grandparents on a weekday once a month, the ability to help out a friend with childcare and the chance to go and check out where we might be living as a family during school hours) and for the fun week that we had.